Home For Christmas
by Mai1
Summary: Christmas Eve with Jack and Ree


Title: Home for Christmas  
  
Author: Mai  
  
Email: Maisfeeka@AOL.com  
  
Feedback: Always nice  
  
Distribution: Cover Me. Any others, just let me know, please.  
  
Disclaimer: Alias and its characters do not belong to me. No  
  
copyright infringement is intended here. Ree is mine.  
  
Summary: Christmas Eve with Jack and Ree  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Classification: AU, Romance, Angst, OC  
  
A/N: This is all Tammy's fault. She *made* me write it!  
  
(Evil, evil, evil!) :) Thanks to Karen T. and Tammy for their  
  
fabulous beta work. :) Also, thanks to Tammy for the title  
  
idea!  
  
********************  
  
Ree looked up from her book when she heard the knock on her door. She glanced over at the clock. Who would be knocking at eight-o'clock on Christmas Eve? Not Jack. He'd simply let himself in.  
  
She rose and went to see. The face she saw there had her throwing the door open in a hurry. "Sydney? What -?"  
  
Sydney smiled a bit nervously, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Hi. I'm sorry to bother you. I just thought my father might be here and I could give him his Christmas present."  
  
"I'm sorry. He's not. Actually, I thought he might have stopped at your house." Ree grimaced. "But I guess he's working late again."  
  
"He's not working late. Everyone's gone." She sighed softly. "Damn. I thought this year would be different." She dropped her head to hide the sadness in her eyes.  
  
"What do you mean? Where - Sydney, do you know where he is?"  
  
"Drinking at a bar, I assume," Sydney replied grimly, failing in her attempt to appear indifferent. "At least that's where he spent every Christmas Eve while I was growing up. If he managed to even be home for Christmas. I don't know why I thought this year would be any different. I'm sorry to have bothered you."  
  
Ree reached out and stopped Sydney from leaving with a light hand on her arm. "Where? Tell me where I can find him."  
  
"There's no point," Sydney said, ducking her head again to hide the tears that welled up. "The one time I went to find him there, he basically told me it was none of my business and I should just leave him alone."  
  
"Tell me where."  
  
********************  
  
Jack sat alone at the bar, nursing a glass of the amber liquid that helped him forget. He didn't know how long he'd been there. Long enough to lose himself in thought, but not long enough to blur the memories. He tossed back the remnants in his glass and motioned to the bartender for another.  
  
He sensed her before he saw her, but it took a moment for his clouded mind to actually register her presence. She slipped onto the seat beside him and stared at him intently until he finally turned his head to look at her. "Ree? What are you doing here?"  
  
She pursed her lips and shook her head. "No, sorry, that's my question. You'll have to come up with another."  
  
He blinked at her, not sure how to respond.  
  
"No? Well, then why don't you tell me what you're doing here?"  
  
Damn, she was beautiful. The strands of dark hair slipping out of her braid made his fingers itch to tuck them back where they belonged. Her face, slightly flushed with anger, reminded him of how she looked when they were making love, her eyes dark and filled with passion. He turned away, shaking his head slightly, trying to banish the images.  
  
"What are you doing here, Jack?"  
  
"I should think that was fairly obvious," he said sarcastically, raising his glass to his lips for another drink.  
  
She took the glass from his hand smoothly and set it on the bar sharply. "Don't play that game with me!"  
  
"Lower your voice," he hissed. "We're in a public place."  
  
"You know, that may have worked on Sydney, but I'm not that easily intimidated. And I don't mind making a scene in public. The question is, how badly do you want to shut me up?"  
  
He turned towards her again, giving her his full attention for the first time. "This is none of your business, Ree," he said in a calm voice, schooling his face to remain expressionless. "Go home."  
  
"Not without you."  
  
The intensity in her voice and face threw him off-balance, so he looked away again. "I'm not done with my drink."  
  
"Easily fixed," Ree responded and gestured to the bartender who'd been looking on with a combination of concern and amusement. She tossed a handful of money on the table. "Give me a bottle of whatever he's been drinking and settle up his tab."  
  
Jack's head whipped around and anger showed clearly on his face. "I said, I'm not ready to leave yet."  
  
"Then get ready," she said flatly, "because I'm leaving and you're coming with me."  
  
He looked at her challengingly, and she leaned in close, "We're back to 'how badly do you want to keep me from making a scene?' Jack? I am not leaving this bar until you come with me. Want to see if I'm serious, or do you want to get up off that goddamned stool and come with me before I embarrass you any further?"  
  
His eyes narrowed angrily, but he got up and walked out of the bar without another word. Ree scooped up the bottle and headed after him.  
  
He was waiting for her on the sidewalk. Every line of his body spoke of his fury. She stopped him before he could speak, "Get in the car. Before we both say something we'll regret later."  
  
He nodded curtly and managed to refrain from slamming the car door as he got in.  
  
They rode back to her house in strained silence and she was out of the car as soon as it stopped. She went into the house without a backward glance but left the door open for him.  
  
He sat in the car, still trying to figure out why he'd gone with her. He knew why he'd left the bar, certainly. She'd been determined to get him to leave, and he knew she would have made good on her threat to cause a scene if he'd tried to remain. But why had he gotten into the car with her? Why hadn't he simply walked home, left her standing there?  
  
He sighed. Might as well try to figure out how he'd gotten himself entangled in this relationship to begin with. If there'd ever been a time when he could have walked away from her, it was long since past. With resignation, he opened the car door and followed her into the house.  
  
********************  
  
He found her in the living room, curled up on her side of the couch.  
  
She didn't look at him as he came in.  
  
The bottle and a full glass waited for him on the coffee table by his customary seat. The lights were low, and Norah Jones was singing something about a nightingale in a smoky voice. He sat down next to Ree on the couch, wanting to touch her but not quite daring to. His anger seemed to have drained away into a weary sadness.  
  
"Ree." he said finally, but then didn't know what else to say.  
  
She turned towards him, and he was shocked to see tears in her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I don't know what I was thinking. I just. I just couldn't bear to think of you sitting in a bar alone on Christmas Eve and." She stood up abruptly. "Never mind. It doesn't excuse what I did. I'll go upstairs, leave you alone."  
  
He caught her hand as she turned to leave. "Ree. How did you know where I'd be?"  
  
"Sydney told me."  
  
She stood still, refusing to look back at him. He tugged gently at her hand, urging her to sit with him. She resisted briefly then sat on the edge of the couch with her head down.  
  
"And how did you and Sydney come to be discussing my whereabouts?" He wasn't sure how he felt about the two of them talking together.  
  
"She came by to drop off a Christmas present for you. Said she'd thought this year would be different, that you'd be here with me, I guess. And she told me the bar I'd be able to find you at."  
  
There was silence in the room for a long moment.  
  
"Thank you," Jack said softly.  
  
Ree looked at him as if he'd gone insane. "You're thanking me?" she said incredulously. "For barging into your private business, making a public scene, and dragging you home with me?"  
  
"For. caring . enough to bother." He had to clear his throat before he could continue. "It's been a long time since anyone's cared about where I was."  
  
"Sydney cares."  
  
"Sydney." Jack took a deep breath. "I was never a good father to Sydney. Never around, never there when she needed me, never gave her the things - the attention - that I should have. At the time, I convinced myself that I was doing it for her sake - to keep her safe, to protect her - from the world I had to live in." He shook his head. "But it was really about me. She was such a beautiful child - bright, loving. I was afraid to get too close to her, afraid that if I let her in I'd be hurt again. The way I was by Lau-. her mother. So I barricaded myself away, destroyed any hope of a relationship between us. And now, no matter how hard I try."  
  
"Sydney loves you, Jack. Do you honestly think she'd have come over here to bring you a Christmas present if she wasn't interested in having you be a part of her life?"  
  
His lips twitched. "I suppose not." He lapsed into silence again.  
  
She watched him as he sat there, knowing how much he wanted to believe that Sydney cared about him. For a man who appeared to be so self-contained, he could be heart-wrenchingly vulnerable. She wanted to comfort him - and take comfort from him. There was no place else in the world where she felt as safe as she did in his arms.  
  
"Jack?" she said hesitantly. "Will you hold me?"  
  
Without a word, he gathered her up into his arms and held her close. He let himself relax into her warmth. She felt so right in his arms - as if she'd been created solely to be here with him.  
  
"I love you," she whispered, and he closed his eyes tightly against the upwelling of emotion her words caused.  
  
"I know," he replied, "God knows I don't deserve it, but somehow. you do."  
  
She pulled herself out of his arms then. He looked at her in surprise, but her face had that little half smile he'd come to love. "Take me to bed, Jack?"  
  
He didn't answer her, just stood and swept her up in his arms, causing her to give a little squeal of surprise and delight. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her head for his kiss.  
  
A long breathless time later they pulled apart. "Shall we take this upstairs?" he asked huskily.  
  
She nodded but stopped him as he began to carry her out of the room. "Jack? Did you want.?" She gestured towards the bottle.  
  
He gave it one long glance then turned back to her. "No. I don't need it. I have you."  
  
******************** Long after midnight, he held her sleeping form close to him. He watched her as she slept, enjoyed the play of expressions over her face as she dreamed.  
  
"I. love you," he said softly, knowing she was too deeply asleep to hear him. "I do love you, Ree." She stirred slightly and snuggled even closer. He leaned down to kiss her gently then let himself drift off to sleep.  
  
********************  
  
"I remember that time you told me, you said, 'Love is touching souls'. Surely you touched mine, 'cause part of you pours out of me in these lines from time to time."  
  
~ Joni Mitchell 


End file.
